End
by The Prettiest Frog in the Pond
Summary: Envy lets it slip to a captive Edward why he really hates him, and Edward doesn't know what to do... angst, tragedy. Oneshot.
1. End

_I wrote this a while ago, but didn't post it... for... some reason. Yeah._

_This is set sometime after Al became the Philosopher's Stone_

_I own nothing._

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* * *

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Envy hadn't been expecting them to kill Sloth, but he knew his orders and knew them well. _I don't care what you do,_ she had said, _I don't care how you do it. But bring me the philosopher's stone._

And so he had brought it... and the stone's older brother, too. And he hadn't meant to, hadn't meant to but he couldn't stay away. He wanted to see him.

_My half-brother._

He hadn't meant to tell him that. But he had. And now he was stuck here guarding the stupid brat, who was missing his arm and hadn't spoken a word since Envy had accidentally let it slip just _who_ he once was. Apparently he hadn't even responded to Dante's gloating.

_Stupid brat._

"You could've told us." Edward said, and his voice was small. "You could've _said..._"

_Don't talk to me, _thought Envy. He glared hatefully at the blonde boy curled in the corner of the dingy room. "Shut up."

Edward ignored him. "You remember, then? Who you were?" he gave a tiny, sad laugh. "I suppose I always knew, really..."

"Knew _what?_" Envy snarled.

Edward continued as if he hadn't heard. "I think that was the final punishment for what we did," he mused. "That really, in some small way, we _succeeded. _Deep down, she really was our mother... and we killed her."

"You're wrong. She wasn't your mother. She only thought she was. It was all in her fucking mind."

"Then everything you've told me... is that all in _your_ mind?"

_Yes,_ said some part of him. _No,_ said another. He had no answer, so instead he just snarled again; "Shut up!"

"I thought so. You're still him, deep down, aren't you?" said Edward. "Still his son. Our half-brother."

"_SHUT UP!"_ Envy roared, but Edward seemed unaffected. _Stupid bastard!_ Envy raged in his mind. _What's wrong with you? Why, why can't you just act like your fucking self instead of asking all these fucking questions?_

Edward ignored him. "What was your name?" he asked, softly, and Envy lost it. He whirled around, clawed at Edward's shirt, grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up, face to face, all teeth and hatred.

"_**SHUT UP!"**_ he demanded.

Edward closed his eyes. "You could've told us."

Furious, he threw Edward back to the floor and whirled around to face the wall again, steaming.

"I wonder what you were like?" Edward asked.

Envy growled.

"Maybe we could've been a family," Edward murmured.

"Shut up! _I'm not your fucking half-brother!_"

Edward said nothing for a long time after that- but in it's own way, that was worse than the chatter had been, because now there was nothing to distract him from the thoughts that swirled in his mind. The silence went on, and on, until finally-

"I'm sorry, Envy."

"For _what?_" the sin asked angrily, turning around again- only to be confronted by Edward standing on mismatched legs and holding aloft in his one and only hand a tiny glass vial, full of ash.

_How-?_

For all that Edward was weak and slow from lack of food and sleep, for all that Edward was human and fallible and missing a limb, for all that he was stronger, faster, he couldn't stop Edward from pushing the glass vial into his hands, and _he knew he knew he knew_ what was in that stupid little bottle and _it wasn't supposed to be this way, bastard, bastard, __**bastard!**_

"I found it when I was taken to Dante's room." said Edward simply, with unreadable eyes, as he took the automail arm Envy had taken from him out of the homunculus's unresisting grasp and pushed it back into place. "She didn't keep a very close eye on me. I'm sorry."

_Little bastard, little bastard, how could he, how could he?_

"You could've told us." Edward said as he brought his hands together. "You could've said..."

And then-

_End._


	2. To Rest

_I haven't written fanfiction in so long... _

_This is the same story, but from Ed's point of view. I don't own fullmetal alchemist.  
_

* * *

It had been an accident, a slip of the tongue; something spat out in a fit of temper before he could hold it back.

"Let me tell you something, _little brother-_"

And then Envy's eyes had widened.

Edward had stopped fighting back, stopped yelling, and stumbled backwards, eyes wide.

"You can't be," he whispered- but deep down, he knew. He ought to have guessed, really. The clues had been there, but he hadn't seen them. Maybe he just hadn't _wanted_ to see them.

Edward and Envy stared at each other, and for one wild, unpredictable moment, they were equals; both confused, both shocked, both angry, and both desperately wishing they could unsay what had been said and unhear what had been heard.

_Damn you, old man._

_

* * *

_

Envy didn't speak to him after that, not when he removed Edward's automail, not even when he escorted him up to Lyra- no, _Dante's_ rooms so that she could gloat. Edward refused to respond, though, and Dante soon grew bored. She left the room to find Envy, and in that moment, while Edward was all alone in Dante's room, he took his chance.

He didn't know what he was searching for as he rummaged one-handed through a drawer, heart beating fast with the fear that they would return before he could finish. He ignored the papers he found, deeming them of little use, and skimmed over the red stones with a slightly ill feeling in his gut- and then stopped as his fingers brushed cold metal. He pulled the object out from where it was wedged in the back of the drawer and set it before him- a small silver box. It took a few precious seconds that he wasn't sure he had to spare, but he finally manoeuvred the catch open one-handed and flipped the lid.

Five objects, each labelled in Dante's slanted hand. A lock of chestnut hair he recognised as his mother's- a bone labelled 'Lust'- more hair, this time Pride's- a tooth that belonged to whoever Gluttony had once been-

-and a vial of ash, labelled 'Envy'.

Ed heard footsteps in the hall. He hastily replaced the objects and stuffed the box back in the drawer, rushing back to his place by the wall just before Dante and Envy came in.

Envy scowled at him, and then led him out without a word. Edward followed, deep in thought, a tiny glass vial hidden in his fist.

* * *

They had been sitting in silence now for almost an hour. In his mind, Edward debated what he should do about the stolen vial in his pocket.

_He's a murderer, a monster,_ said one part of him. Another said, _he was abandoned, and trying to cling onto the only family he had left._

_He's my half-brother..._

Finally, he broke the silence.

"You could've told us," His voice was oddly small, his throat strangely dry. "You could've _said..._"

"Shut up." Envy glared at him.

Edward paid him no heed. "You remember, then? Who you were?" he asked, and laughed unhappily. "I suppose I always knew, really..."

"Knew _what?_" asked Envy, clearly irritated.

"I think that was the final punishment for what we did," Edward said softly. "That really, in some small way, we _succeeded. _Deep down, she really was our mother... and we killed her."

"_My boys..."_

_I wonder- could she have been __**his**__ mother, too? If things had been different?_

Envy snarled. "You're wrong. She wasn't your mother. She only thought she was. It was all in her fucking mind."

Edward gave him a level look. "Then everything you've told me... is that all in _your_ mind?"

Envy appeared indecisive, and finally, he simply snarled again: "Shut up!"

"I thought so. You're still him, deep down, aren't you?" Edward asked. "Still his son. Our half-brother."

"_SHUT UP!"_

Edward ignored him, lost in thought. _What was he like, I wonder? Was he like me?_

"What was your name?" he asked.

Envy snapped. In one smooth movement, he spun round and caught Edward's shirt in his vicelike grip, lifting him clean off the floor and bringing them face to face. _**"SHUT UP!"**_ he demanded.

He shut his eyes.

_What if things had been different?_

"You could've told us." he said.

Envy hissed at him, and flung him back down to the floor before whirling round to face the wall again, refusing to reply.

"I wonder what you were like?" Edward asked quietly.

Envy growled loudly.

_If you hadn't stayed with your mother- if you hadn't been twisted and corrupted- If you hadn't become a monster..._

It was a bitter thought, especially considering what had happened with Sloth.

_I was wrong. They aren't just monsters, they aren't just imitations- somewhere deep inside, they're still who they were supposed to be. We brought our mother back to life- and then we abandoned her, and twisted her into Sloth._

_If things had been different..._

"Maybe we could've been a family," Edward said, so softly it could barely be heard.

"Shut up! _I'm not your fucking half-brother!_" Envy almost screamed. Edward bit his lip, and for a while, he was silent, deep in thought.

_What do I do?_

_It's not his fault he's a monster..._

_...but he __**is**__ a monster._

_What do I do?_

_He's my half-brother. Had things been different..._

_What do I do?_

Finally he came to a decision. He rose to his feet, and quietly, very quietly, he said, "I'm sorry, Envy."

"For _what?_" Envy whirled around again, furious- and then shocked when he saw Edward on his feet, holding aloft a glass vial.

By all rights, Envy should've been able to beat him, to push him away, to do _something._ By all rights, Edward shouldn't have succeeded. A part of him was still hoping he would fail- but he didn't. He pushed the vial into Envy's hand, and the homunculus froze, horror painted on his face.

"I found it when I was taken to Dante's room," said Edward quietly, taking his automail arm from the sin's unresisting grasp and quickly slotting it into place, barely registering the pain. "She didn't keep a very close eye on me. I'm sorry."

_I really am sorry, Envy. I wish things had been different for us._

"You could've told us," Edward said, bringing his hands together, not in a clap, but a prayer.

_Have mercy, _he prayed. _I've never asked anything of you before, but if you exist- have mercy._ _He deserves at least that._

"You could've said..." he murmured quietly.

And then alchemic light glowed, and Edward did the only thing he could do for his half-brother- stood by him in his last moments, and finally laid him to rest.


End file.
